Local residents and visitors alike fanned out throughout the county this summer in a quest to enjoy the wonders of San Juan. Many chose to participate in the San Juan Record 101 Ways To Experience San Juan County contest, sponsored by the San Juan Record and the San Juan Chamber of Commerce.

While scores of people participated in the contest, two participants were in a hard-fought battle for the top prize.

In the end, Patty Lyman narrowly edged Deanna Walker to claim the award, which is a free 2016 jeep trip or river trip from Four Corners Adventures.

Lyman checked off an astounding 96 of the 101 Ways to Experience San Juan County. In addition, she ate at 24 local restaurants to score 120 “points”.

Walker was not far behind, participating in 95 of the 101 Ways to Experience San Juan County and eating at 22 local restaurants while scoring 117 points.

“Although it was remarkably close, in the end Patty came out with a very narrow victory,” said San Juan Record Editor Bill Boyle.

Also finishing with an impressive number of experiences are Haley Burton (87 points), and Julie Bunker (83 points).

Just behind them are four grandchildren of Deanna Walker, including Mason Atwood (80 points), Donovan and Jaxon Atwood (78 each), and Olivia Alleman (54). They helped their grandmother throughout the summer and throughout the county.

Walker, Burton, Bunker and the Walker grandkids win the second place prize, which is a certificate to eat at a local San Juan County restaurant.

Also wracking up a large number of points and memories, and winning the third place award are Adriann Goodwine, Anna Fredericks, and Susan Flavel.

In addition, Lyman encouraged many of her students at Blanding Elementary School to enjoy the challenge

It is much easier to list the activities that the top two were not able to complete rather than the hundreds that they did complete. Both were not able to visit Rainbow Bridge or ride ATVs on the Hook and Ladder Trail.

Patty was not able to hike the Honaker Trail or participate in Pioneer Day in Monticello, while Deanna did not go rappelling or hike in Recapture Canyon.

Aside from that, these two did just about everything else.

Deanna said that the hike on the Honaker Trail was one of the most memorable activities. She said, “This one darn near killed me…. Are you kidding me?”

The trail drops 1,200 feet from near the Goosenecks State Park to the San Juan River… and then back up again!

Patty participated in the activities with enthusiastic gusto. In addition to being a participant, she also volunteered to help at several of the events, all while promoting the contest far and wide.

Participants mentioned how much they enjoyed the many adventures.

“We decided that the thing we enjoyed about the 101 was consciously living in San Juan County,” sad Adriann Goodwine. “We visited so many great places we take for granted or ‘will see later’. Hucks Museum was definitely the highlight, but we totally enjoyed Monument Valley and the Needles District.”

“We love that it gave us some needed encouragement to get out and see some of the things we had never seen in our beautiful county,” said Anna Fredericks. “One of our favorites was Bluff Fort. We did some things we might have never done. More than anything, we liked that it was fun for our family to do it together and didn’t cost too much.”

“I really loved going to the Indian Creek tunnel,” said Haley Burton. “I had been there before but didn’t really know what it was. We went in mid-September and the mountain was just changing colors. It was a spot that made me so grateful to live here under the Blues!”

Others mentioned how much they enjoyed the night-sky activities, the many local restaurants, and participating in the local celebrations.

Many of the participants enjoyed exploring the county with kids and grandkids in tow. Young Spencer Burton, who was less than one year old during most of the summer, wracked up scores of adventures for his lifetime list. “I am grateful that Scott and the kids were able to experience this with me,” said Haley, Spencer’s mother.

“It was fun to see how many we had done for the lifetime challenge,” said Goodwine. “We had about 15 more that we had just done last year or in the recent past. Loved it!”

Check out all the photos on Instagram. Just search for the hashtag #sjr101. Nearly 600 photos are featured.

The San Juan Record and San Juan Chamber of Commerce are the process of creating the 2016 guide. Let us know what activities to include by emailing us at sjrnews@frontiernet.net.

The San Juan Record welcomes comments on our stories. Please be civil, respectful, focused and humane. Postings are not edited and are the responsibility of the author. You agree not to post comments that are abusive, threatening or obscene. Postings may be removed at the discretion of sjrnews.com